I work with several non-profit organizations setting up community service opportunities that bring people together (ie. teaching skills like cooking, crochet, computer software, etc.). One of the larger non-profits has been really successful in changing people's lives and I'm quite proud of it. But, then the pandemic hit. We are now restarting some of those community efforts and they assigned me a new person of contact (the last person left the organzation).
My professional relationship with the new contact started in a positive way. We shared a lot of interests, both grew up in the midwest, loved the same sport teams, etc. So, it was easy to work with them. They are married and I am married - this is strictly professional in every way.
Recently, in a phone call, I noticed a huge change. They seemed withdrawn, defensive, and frustrated. I sensed they were upset about something. My knee-jerk reaction is to always clear the air and communicate to make sure it wasn't something I had done. I sent an email saying I hope I did not saying anything to upset them and that I knew they were under a lot of stress/pressure in their job. I mentioned that people who work hard always seem to get dumped on more by organzations and I knew they had a lot going on. On the next email, it seemed they took that attempt at empathy as a sign that I thought they were not working hard enough to help the initiative we partenered on. It almost felt like I was working with a child but they were twice my age and I expected more patience and wisdom.
The relationship has soured. My wife told me I need to clear the air again, bring it up, talk it through and make that uncomfortable confrontation. My gut is telling me the opposite. Stay professional about everything, don't bring it up, and avoid small talk about things we have in common. Focus on the mission and not the professional relatiionship.
Considering I will be working with this person a lot in the near future and potentially for several years, what is the best advice for me? Do I try to find out what I may have said or done that upset them? I'm trained for those conversations and know how to keep the emotion out of it. But, to be honest, it's just so exhausting sometimes. I'm tired of being the adult. I'm tired of always taking the high road. I just want to get the job done and move on. However, a sour relationship could affect the success of the project in some ways and potentially lead to more communication issues.
Which patch should I take....?

Moving out for uni was a big dream of mine and I regret not doing it (I commuted instead) I have the chance to move out now for my fourth and final year. Unfortunately, this will be in central London and quite expensive - probably around £200 a week including bills (I hope haha). I'd be living with people I'm already friends with so I feel confident it will be a mostly positive experience, but I think it's something I want to experience even if it ends up negative?
I would not have any financial help from my family, but I would receive maximum (or near it) maintenance loan, and by the time I start I will have saved up around £3000 to get me by.
I have a lot of anxiety so am constantly second guessing this decision. I'm at a position now where I can still change my mind, but really have to decide for sure in the next few days. I don't plan to live out again after this as I have a good relationship with my family and want to save money (plan to stay home for my PhD/first few years of whatever career I fall in to).
What are your thoughts?

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.
​

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take: A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take: A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page: “XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take: This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest / Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take: Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take: Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take: Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take: A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take: One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page: “The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take: Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

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Have an amazing day & feel free to DM me for any questions/ help :)!

Lebron James - The easy joke here is that you are somebody who doesn’t really know anything about basketball and just picked the guy you recognised from Space Jam or adverts, but the truth runs a little bit deeper than that. If Lebron James is your favourite player you don’t even like basketball, you like arguing online. The sad truth is, you desperately crave the facade of friendship that comes with the tribalism inherent to picking a side in a popular argument. You exist only to say Lebron is better than Jordan or Curry or Dwyane Wade or whoever it is you and your gang are arguing about that week. Any game of basketball that doesn’t have Lebron in it is completely worthless to you unless it can be used as evidence about a player that Lebron played with/against. Any game with Lebron in it is a nightmare, because you know if he plays badly MJ fans will make fun of you on Twitter, and to you that’s all that matters.
Steph Curry - To be a Curry fan means that, intrinsically, you are spoiled. Your hands are soft and unworked, your mummy still pays for your groceries and you have a manservant to wipe your ass when you’ve finished shitting. You were raised on state-funded winning and excuses for failure. You would never survive even a day in the wild, you shrink from adversity like a child fleeing the hand of an abusive father and you speak like a ten-year old. You have no place in the dirtier arguments of the NBA, you consider yourself above them. Steph and his superteam have coddled you, made you feeble with his asterisk rings. The thought of supporting a REAL player, somebody you have to FIGHT for scares you too much. You are, and forever will be, bitchmade.
Kawhi Leonard - You will never understand why the rest of us are so jealous of you. Kawhi has his rings, he has his fan love and he has an excuse to retire early and not embarrass you with the sight of having to watch him average 7 points a game for the Grizzlies at the age of 36. You support a basketball player who isn’t. Kawhi is now little more than a myth, a legend of the rings of yesteryear that echoes throughout the barren planes of San Antonio and Toronto. All you, as his trusted liege can do is keep the flame alive for as long as you can. The winds may howl and call him a pussy for his load management but as long as you shelter the flame, and Kawhi keeps conveniently getting injured when the Clippers need him, you will be safe. They will always remember the Philly shot. That’s all you need.
Joel Embiid - He can’t keep getting away with this, right? I mean, you put in WORK to get him that MVP, more work than he did, and this is how he repays you? You remember a time when you laughed at the fans of ringless players. AI, Melo, Lillard, Chris Paul, Harden until he saw the light, all bums. Embiid would get you a ring, he was designed to get you a ring, he had to get you a ring. You deserve a ring. You sat through the rebuild, all those injury problems, Ben fucking Simmons, all because you were promised a ring. And every year you would say ‘we lost because of this thing that isn’t Embiid’s fault, we’ll be back next year!’. And for a while, the public believed you. They bought your tales and your lies. Not anymore. They know the truth now, and they hate him for it. Deep down, you do too.
Kevin Durant - How many times will KD ‘seek a new challenge’ or ‘make the move right for him’ before you come to terms with what he is? He’s a nasty ring chaser, and that’s okay. Everyone would respect you more if you just admitted it. You can cope all you want and justify all his moves by claiming ‘toxic environment!’ or ‘the front office hated him!’ but even you don’t believe that, you just say it to save face. The worst part is, you haven’t heard the worst of it yet. KD has gone remarkably unscrutinized by NBA media as a whole, but when people start to question whether the most remarkable unicorn the NBA had seen since Wemby should have more than two state-funded rings, you might have some explaining to do. Maybe he should have stayed loyal to Oakland. Not OKC though, fuck that place.
James Harden - I want you to find a coin right now and flip it, catch it in your hand and turn it over. Take note of what side it lands on and keep flipping it until it lands on the other side. If you can flip this coin 56 times and have it land on the same side every time, congratulations! You have matched the statistical probability of the 2018 Rockets missing 27 consecutive threes. What this exercise should show you is that God is real and for whatever reason, he hates James Harden. Spare your soul and support a real player instead.
Giannis Antetokounmpo - Nobody has ever enjoyed a Giannis performance without already being a fan of Giannis in the first place. He is perhaps the most consistently boring superstar to watch. He never takes threes unless they’re wide open, he has never had a super interesting or acrobatic dunk, he loves free throws and he makes about 14 barely contested layups per game. He has no dribbling bag and his defence relies on simply being large. He is a boring player, and you know this, because that’s why you like him. Your idea of ‘good basketball’ is simply the person who can score the most points with the highest efficiency. You live and die by the box score because you genuinely think that’s the objective way of saying who had the best game. You could be sat in front of an Excel spreadsheet instead of a Bucks game and have essentially the same amount of fun, because your brain has been programmed to release dopamine whenever it sees three numbers over 10 next to each other. You are boring, we all think you’re dull, and when the rest of us are discussing real basketball we don’t want you anywhere near us because your idea of humour is just saying the jokes that Giannis said again. An Allen Iverson comp would kill you on the spot.
Russell Westbrook - It would be easy to make a joke about how much you miss 2017 and how you pretended it still is to try and stop the pain from setting in, but to be honest I honestly think you do still genuinely believe it to be 2017. For you, time hasn’t progressed at all. You’ve been known to play Despacito and Ed Sheeran when you get the aux and you can’t stop talking about how excited you are for Infinity War to come out. And yes, you do still somehow believe Russell Westbrook is a good player. Despite all your friends and family pleading with you to move on and showing you Youtube videos of that time he hit the side of the backboard, you firmly believe that Russ is still cooking on the Thunder. I can promise you, it doesn’t get better. Wake up now before we lose you forever.
Nikola Jokic. You are a 35 year old white guy with a beard and glasses who would, if asked to, happily pay to get advanced basketball statistics. Your life is filled with words like ‘True Shooting’ and ‘Player Impact Estimate’ that the rest of us couldn’t give a single shit about. You are who KD was talking about when he said people watch basketball through a graph. If I showed you a powerpoint saying that Mike Conley is the piece missing from the Suns to make them chip favourites you would believe me as long as I added in enough bar graphs. You have a poster of Ernie on your wall. You have never discussed basketball without double checking a fact on your phone. When you go to a bar in a city you don’t know you make a big deal about ordering local beers, and if the guy next to you didn’t hear you order it you order it again but louder. You have strong opinions on pirating that nobody agrees with. You are probably a centrist. You have no idea how much I pity you.
Luka Doncic - There are two types of Luka fans, the hollow, soulless Mavs fan who physically cannot talk about his team without saying the phrase ‘We just need to get Luka some help’, and the 16 year old jerker who’s brain instinctively goes ‘Luka Doncic is Devin Booker father’ the second they see his name. Both are equally hard to talk to, but at least the Mavs fan has an excuse for their suicidal demeanour. The jerker is barely even a human at this point, a bag of flesh that surrounds an endless stream of catchphrases and recycled memes. Luka Doncic is Devin Booker father. If you laughed at that for the second time, seek therapy or employment.
Jayson Tatum - Bro I am NOT GAY, I promise but IF I was, IF bro, IF I was then of course I would have sweaty man sex with Jayson Tatum, he’s just cute bro it’s not gay to say that bro it isn’t I swear. What? Tatum’s game isn’t good enough to justify the lengths I’ll go to defend him? He’s not really all that and I only love him so much because I think he’s sexually attractive. Nah bro you’re crazy for that one I won’t lie, just because Tatum’s lips are soft like pillows and I like the way his ass jiggles and I wish the NBA would let him play without a shirt on doesn’t make me gay bro you’re crazy for that one.
Zion Williamson - The Great Zion Debate revolves around a single word; ‘if’. IF Zion was to play regularly, he’d probably be top 3 bigs in the league, but guess what? He doesn’t, so he isn't. That should be a very simple thing to understand, but Zion fans love nothing more than to drag everyone into a world full of hypotheticals and make-believe, where anything is possible except Zion’s shitty conditioning being his own fault. Eventually you’ll be spat out of their portal wearing nothing but a lobster bib and a Jose Alvarado jersey, fully believing that it’s AD’s fault that Zion loves food more than he loves his own mother. After all, you can’t say he plays bad if he simply never plays.
Damian Lillard - Oh fuck you’re so cool man, you’re so cool because the player you support is so loyal man, that just makes you so much cooler than everyone else man. Ignore all the times you’ve screamed for him to be traded because the Trail Blazers are a complete poverty franchise, that doesn’t matter because Dame is so loyal and cool man, Dame time baby let’s go! Let’s fucking go! Who cares that the current state of the NBA would be exactly the same if Dame was never drafted and spent his entire life delivering DnD equipment to Portland’s extensive collective of people who couldn’t care less about basketball, he’s so clutch! Ignore all the red flags and hope the Lakers come through with a trade request. You’ll need post-season success more than you think in the years to come.
Chris Paul - When Chris Paul retires without a ring, which is a near guarantee unless Phoenix fix their shit or he begs Denver to take his dog ass for a season, what will you do? You probably gave up on your hopes of a ring around the same time Harden fans did, but man 2021 gave you hope didn’t it? Just for a second you felt what it was like to support a real player, a real man. Not the banana boat enthusiast who choked leads like they were Bart Simpson, but a player who could maybe win something someday. It must have been nice while it lasted. Then, reality set in. To be honest, I don’t really know who I’m talking to with this one. Chris Paul surely doesn’t have any fans left. He barely even has his own family on his side. Ah well, you’ll always have Lob City. And Kim K.
Jimmy Butler - It’s always someone else’s fault isn’t it. Ever since Jimmy realised he could just blame KAT for all the T’wolves failings you’ve carried on that legacy for as long as you can remember. Maybe if Bam plays better against Denver your beloved Jordan surrogate won’t have to be directly outscored by UDFA’s every night. It’s okay though, Jimmy has ‘fundamentals’. You love fundamentals don’t you, they’re that thing you use when you don’t have any actual arguments to say why Jimmy’s better than the perennial MVP candidate you’ve set him up against for no reason. You can whine and cope and say ‘he makes his teammates better’ but if that were true, wouldn’t he have achieved something in Chicago, or with that very promising Minnesota roster? Surely it must be someone else’s fault. Maybe it’s the leagues for hiring referees. Or maybe it’s KAT’s fault again. Who knows.
Kyrie Irving - Kyrie fans are the rare breed of basketball fan that actually play basketball, the problem is that they think they’re him with the handles and the ankle breakers and the and-ones, but in reality they are complete fucking garbage. I will never choose you to play pickup with unless you are the last option and I will never pass you the ball because I don’t want to watch you bounce it off your own thigh for 20 minutes. And dude, can you please stop talking about the Zionist New World Order or whatever the fuck you saw on Twitter last night? I fucking doubt the guy with the MAGA Pepe pfp has links deep in the US government, so forgive me for not believing that they put aphrodisiacs in the tap water so that we spend all our money on babies, just help me guard their sharpshooter or fuck off. And wear some deodorant fucking hell.
Devin Booker - You know, if a player needs All-Star candidates at every other position on the court just to progress to the Conference Finals, chances are that player isn’t very good. This thought does not register in the mind of the Booker fan, who genuinely believes that KD, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton isn’t enough help. Your greed knows no bounds and will swallow you whole one day, yet in your lust for power you fail to turn inwards. Where was Booker vs the Mavs that one time? Why did he only score 12 points vs the Nuggets this year? Is he stupid? Does he not know he can play well in big games? No, no, clearly the Suns just need to trade Cam Payne and Ayton for Sabonis or AD or some other top 5 big, surely that’s where the problem lies right? Wait, what do you mean salary cap?
Ja Morant - Oh man I feel bad for you. You’re probably a guy who just enjoys basketball as a spectacle, who doesn’t particularly care about winning or losing as long as you get to watch the most entertaining players in the league pull off the most ridiculously flashy plays. Isn’t that what we all want, deep down? Maybe you were raised on a healthy diet of Vince Carter or D Rose, maybe you just think a guy who can jump over another guy for a bucket is neat, whatever the answer is you’re trapped with this fucking idiot who can’t keep himself out of trouble. Now the team you touted as the most exciting in the league is the most hated in the league, and through no fault of your own you look like a fucking idiot. Worse still, the sheen has come off the Grizzlies young core and now people actually expect them to start winning, probably without Ja. Consider suing Instagram before Adam Silver demands Ja be burned at the stake for his transgressions against his fellow players.
Trae Young - Yes, we all remember that New York series. Yes, we all thought Ice Trae was hot shit at the time. But guess what? That was 2 years ago and Trae has shown no signs of progressions since. Still a liability on defence, still a massive ball hog and still ugly as fuck. Just face the facts and admit that without these rivalries you create, be it with New York or Luka or whoever, Trae would be the most forgettable player in the league. Three point specialists are a dime a dozen in the post-Steph era, and there’s nothing to really separate your fave from Dame or Paul George or De’Aaron Fox or any other number of downtown dwellers. Also like dude, come on, he’s so ugly. Have some self respect.

Hey guys thats my first post and I'm new to that whole reddit thing, but I literally have to get something off my chest.
I'm F 19 and He is M 19. He is my second longterm relationship. His Family background is turkish (with conservative muslim Parents) but we live in a western country. He is taking religion not as serious as his Parents. Im not religious myself but I always respected his religion ( I even was interested myself bc I like to learn new things about different cultures).
So we met through Friends 1½ years ago. We went on some dates and we noticed we have very much in common. We share same issues withe ex relationships , same worldviews, same hobbies etc. It just clicked, after we met for a month we decided to be a couple. There started the Problems, he directly told me that we have to keep the relationship a secret from his family, because his mom doesn't want him to have a relationship (he is saying that is bc of the religion but I think its an excuse because the parents also life in many aspects very western). I think that the mom has some weird relationship to her son that she just doesn't want to have a girl in his life (I know she's a psycho).
Another aspect is that his parents are treating him like shit, they always force him to do chores and babysit his Brothers, also they are forcing him to study many hours a day. They are shouting at him if he is not behaving. He has also restrictions that he can only play videogames for 1 hour a day ( he is an adult keep that in mind ).
Half a year into the relationship we told them about us. They weren't very happy but accepted it with some restrictions. We couldn't have sleepovers, meet once a week and he just can stay for 3-6 hours when we meet. His parents also didn't really like me because I have an alternative style, tattoos and piercings. When I talked to her she was okay, but my bf told me that she was always talking bad behind my back.
Those things always bothered me bc I'll be 20, soon and I think things as Sleepovers should be normal and okay at this age. Anyways, so since then we were officially and keept going like that for the longest time. We argued a lot about these issues because we are the perfect match except for this point. Even in everyday life, the mother does everything for him. He really has no independence. We've talked a lot about it. His solution was that we let time pass until we finish school (this year) and then he just gradually becomes more independent over time.
We continued the relationship normally like that.
Then the issues started. Because I have mental problems myself and I would like more support (than once a week), we fought quite often about the mom thing.
There were a lot more things that happened because of the mother that increased my anger towards her. I was so mad at her because she manipulates him all the time, badmouths me and pressuring him into doing less with me and more with her.
Bc of the culture thing his family is his everything (what I don't understand bc they are very abusive) he also wasn't allowed to normally meet up with male friends.They controlled every thing he did in his life. He also hadn't a job thats why he was also financially dependent on his parents (even though I made him a lot presents).
He told me a lot of times that I am taking so much pain from him (bc he has a lot past trauma cuz his parents and exes and so on). We were emotionally on the same wavelength. We voiced every problem and communicated so much! We were the perfect power couple (Except of the family issue).
What also hurt me was that he always emphasized that he loves his mother more than me because it's his mother and she has done a lot (But doesn't make sense for me because she is forcing him, making him feel guilty for nothing and is abusive und toxic). I always told him that he should leave them and thats better to leave than living with toxic parents but they (and his 9 year old brother (who also loves me)) are too important for him.
But contrarily he is saying that he never got treated so good in a relationship. And that he never loved someone so much than me. We were soulmates.
We argued very much about the "I need a sleepover" topic. And generally about that it hurt me to see, that his parents destroyed him so much. Atp he got really depressed about the topic of standing between me and his parents because both partys want completely different things. But we handled every fight together and wanted to go though everything. He always was the "Lets fix it and fight for us" even if the hardest of times we had.
Lets talk about the current events:
After a lot of arguing about this topic he wanted to give me the sleepover I always wanted the whole 1½ years. We were so happy and hyped for it. Of course he had to lie to his parents and say that he is sleeping over at a friends house (what they weirdly allowed).
We were so incredibly happy and then the day happened and it was the best day we had in the whole relationship! We went for a walk, talked a lot with my mom, made a food in the middle of the night, watch movies, had very good sex.... Everything was just perfect and it was the first day where the relationship felt really complete. We also danced and had a deep talk that everything is going to get better and that we can fix everything together (very bad thing to say in retrospective).
The bad part about the story is, that he had to wake up early (7 a.m ) because his mom wanted to pick him up from his friends place ( so he had to drive with the train 20minutes to his friends place). I was awake when he got ready to leave and we talked, cuddled, said goodbye and then he left.
Because I slept very bad that night I fell immediately asleep after he left (until around 11 a.m.) . Then I woke up and looked at my phone and read just something like "I am so sorry I cant do this anymore, I am so sorry".
I opened the messeges and read a long text, how his mother found everything out got mad, and made him choose between me and his family. She said stuff like "Either you love your family and stay with us, or you have to leave her and can never meet her again"....
He apologized and said, that he can't do this anymore ( because its also draining for him what i can definitely understand) and that he is choosing his parents over me. I mean he always told me that, but that he would actually leave me because they hate me is so shoking for me. I was so numb and confusedy we chatted a bit, I thought he was joking. But then I realized that he really wants to break up. But he said he still loves me and he was thankful for my love and so on but that he can't hurt his parents like that....
We were literally soulmates and I really wanted to help him to get over his mommy issues but he dropped me for his toxic parents. I mean he loves me still and he really apologized for hurting me, but he fought with himself and also his parents. And sadly Im the one who lost that battle, and his parents won. His psyche must also suffer so much.
The day after we talked again and talked about our feelings. He told me that he loves me still, thinks every minute about me and misses me. And told him the same. But he still rejected me and still said that we can't be together anymore. I got so desperate ( because I have BPD and hardcore mental issues) and I begged him to come back and thing about it but he was stuck with his opinion, because he can't get kicked out.
But we always said during the relationship if we break up that we wanna be friends. So he asked me if we can be friends, but I told him that I need time. But I can't imagine being friends that shortly after the break up. We agreed that we would continue without contact and see if we could become friends again later.
We said out last goodbye texts and that we love eachother. Now he blocked me (I told him to bc I said its easier for me that I don't text him) & he also unfriended me in every videogame we played together (probably it hurts him too to see me online).
Yeah thats 3 days ago and I dont know what to feel and think. My relationship got fucked up in not even 24 hout by the stupid mother. It went from the best and most perfect day to horrible suffering. He always wanted to fight but he can't do this anymore and that makes me sad bc I gave him so much more than his shitty abusive parents.
I asked him if we could meet irl and talk about if face to face (everything that happened, happened through text messages). But he said, that he is really sick and cought a cold and is lying in his bed (maybe his karma?).
Anyways thats my current situation, I still love him so much and I'm so ambiguous about the situation bc on one hand we were the perfect match and laughed about other couple who "gave up so easily' bc we could never.
Im not sure if I have hope that he will come back or if its over for forever. We planned so much and we were unstoppable.
As I said he blocked me, but we are sending memes each other but I also try to be consequently with my no contact bc it hurts me so so much to talk with him without him being my boyfriend.
But I can't believe its over because of such a stupid thing...
I want to quit with having hope that he is coming back but I also can't realize that he is never coming back. Like what he always said and what he did in the end is so contrary. Its so weird to me. Because I think its sad, the parents must've destroyed him to let me go. He always told me that he is very scared of his parents and their force they have on him. It hurts me because it wasn't even himself who broke us up... It was his mother. He can't leave its like a toxic relationship. I really wanted to help him out of there.
Also a Friend of mine whos also a friend of him texted him about it. My friend asked him if his mother is happy with his decision now and he said to her: "My mom didn't see a future for me and her, my mom said Im gonna find something better someday and that my pain will go away".
It hurts me so much, I gave him the world and he still chose his mom over me.
Tbh I don't even know if anyone is going to read that or if its useless. I just needed to vent because I really don't know what to do and what to believe. If you have questions I surely will answer them. I'm so scared, sad and down. I'll visit a psychiatry in summer because of my health issues, I hope my life will be better.
My plan is, that Im trying to get over him. If he decides to come back I will take him (If he's leaving this household). But if he's not going to do it, its over!
As a conclusion: I fell in love with a mommas boy, I wouldn't recommend it except you want to suffer
I'm really desperate and don't know how I can handle the situation. Would you try to open his eyes to get him back or would you just accept that he left? What would you do in my situation? Would you just accept that he left in 24 hours?
Take care if yourself and please don't let you MIL ruin your relationship!!

My SE therapist also has experience with the addiction model and showed me how the four steps worked, such that when a motivation for something was present and a particular behavior met it, this eventually happened enough times or hit a particular threshold where the behavior became compulsive. I had the thought that SE could potentially get inside that feedback loop because a particular memory and its associated state of mind is resurfacing in the present and associated with the trigger.
Example: as a child, I clung to the computer because it was an escape from a very unpleasant school environment, a way to relate to people when I could not as a child, and a way to feel accomplished (at specific games, mostly) when I had little else. As an adult, I would often feel heavy cravings for a computer or cell phone if I used it for long enough or in a particular state of mind, almost and maybe to the point of a freeze response. But when I discovered SE and made that connection, I started using tremoring on the feeling of craving because it connected with the reason I wanted it in the first place: the sense of loneliness and the desperation I would have to get back onto the computer to avoid it. I would bring myself into the present where I’m not lonely and have more friends, and process the feeling of loneliness and shame I felt at that time.
After a couple of months of trying this off and on, the sense of craving has somewhat decreased since then and the freeze response after putting a piece of technology down has almost completely vanished. Is my theory a substantiated explanation? If so, my other primary habit that bothers me is picking at nails and skin when I’m anxious, and I feel at least part of that habit could be treated the same way - could it, and has anyone seen success in reducing these kinds of habits with SE this way?

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.
​

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take: A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take: A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page: “XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take: This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest / Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take: Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take: Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take: Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take: A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take: One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page: “The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take: Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

Could use a friend. I don't have any irl. I have schizoaffective disorder, which is essentially bipolar and schizophrenia. My symptoms are mostly managed with medication-except the "negative symptoms" of the schizophrenia. Things like taking care of myself and responsibilities are very difficult for me, nearly impossible. I have no joy in life anymore. I'm not depressed but I feel like a complete waste of a person. I can't even take care of myself and it is embarassing.
Just looking for someone to talk to.

After taking an extended break from reading due to life's demands, I'm back in the game and hungry for some epic fantasy reads! I'm asking for your absolute favorite recommendations that fall into the darker side of the genre. I'm not particularly interested in young adult novels, but I'm open to exploring any and all other styles of fantasy.
I've always had a penchant for the darker, grittier side of fantasy literature. I love stories that immerse me in a world where shadows lurk around every corner, and the stakes are as high as they come. While romance isn't a necessity, I'm definitely open to it if it enhances the overall narrative.
I'm especially drawn to books that are known for their masterful world-building, complex characters, and intricate plotlines. I want to be transported to a realm that feels tangible, morally ambiguous characters who constantly toe the line between heroism and villainy are always enjoyed.
So, my fellow fantasy enthusiasts, what are your go-to recommendations for dark, epic fantasy novels that will keep me glued to the page?

Not easy din talaga makahanap but I am hoping na sana mahanap ko na here. I am hoping for a long term RS (or prolly to settle with na since I am going to Europe in the near future as an immigrant) so message lang sa ready na for commitments.
About me: - Femme sa galaw at kilos pero sa past RS ko parang ako yung guy. - Giver and always the "top" one. - Slim, 5'2, and maputi daw (but for me sakto lang parang light brown ganun) - Professional (if this matters) - Nerdy and geek type, likes to travel and watch anime, living with 2 dogs. - Scorpio (kung nag mamatter ulit) - I am very confident sa looks ko, we can exhange pics for proof. - not RK
About you: - Femme sana - I wish SMALLER than me so 5'2 BELOW, will tell the reason sa DM. - Slim or curvy Idc - 24 yrs old and up (students please focus on your studies muna). - Ready for commitment
I am willing to take it slow naman for us to assess everything but I don't wanna waste so much time naman na like puro talking stage na lang. Kindly DM me if interested then let us see if we vibe.

Hi i have been DJing DnB for almost 3 years. My DDJ-400 was amazing tool but lately having only 2 channels started to really limit my creativity and progress. FLX-6 seems like just the thing I need.
I've heard that build quality is worse than DDJ-400, is it really true even for new GT model? Saving up for DDJ-1000 or FLX-10 is unfortunately impossible for me in near future.

"There are things of the Abyss that are left unexplored and undiscovered. Things beyond our understanding. For to see or hear or try to comprehend them is to lose one's grip on reality and plunge into a fathomless pit of madness.
Of The Entity I know little, if anything at all. What I have witnessed and concluded through my imprisonment within its timeless living boundaries, is The Entity seems to move through the cosmos like a primordial Titan. An incomprehensible Serpent of Chaos, consuming people and worlds for reasons I cannot even begin to comprehend... and won't even try."
-The Observer, Excerpt from Arcus 07

The Entity's Chosen

The Survivors

Azula

Realm of Origin: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Biography:
The prodigal child of Fire Lord Ozai, Azula was the one set to take the throne once her father had conquered the world. After being defeated by her brother Zuko, Azula went mad and was confined to a mental health institution. Years later she was temporarily released by Zuko, now the Fire Lord, in order to search for their long lost mother. Though they were successful in their mission, Azula fled into the Forgotten Valley, unable to accept the reality that she would never be Fire Lord and that her mother truly loved her. It is here where she is taken, her fragile mental state making a prime candidate for the new Trials.

Sylas

Realm of Origin: League of Legends
Biography: Sylas of Dregbourne was born with the rare gift of being able to see magic in people. Recruited by the mageseekers of Demacia, he served them dutifully until he met a young girl he refused to turn in. Imprisoned with the mages he had helped capture, Sylas found his hatred for the nobility of Demacia to grow with each passing day. After discovering that the petricite shackles that bind him allow him to absorb magic, he used this ability to escape his execution. After a failed attempt to assassinate the Demacian king, Sylas fled to the wilderness with his fellow mages to plot to return the kingdom to its rightful owners: the people. Unfortunately, it seems the Entity has new plans for him.

Zero

Realm of Origin: Katana Zero
Biography:
Subject Zero, or just Zero, once served in the Cromag War as a soldier conditioned through the NULL project. With the drug Chronos allowing him to slow time and see glimpses of the future to find the best possible scenario to win any combat encounter, he was nigh unstoppable. After the war he would work as an assassin for his psychiatrist, who would supply him with Chronos to keep the vivid nightmares and hallucinations out of his head. After discovering the truth about himself, however, Zero murdered his psychiatrist in a blind rage. Now only having a limited supply of Chronos in his bloodstream, Zero must survive the Entity's Realm before he becomes trapped in his mind forever.

The Killer

The Purifier

Realm of Origin: Magic: the Gathering
Biography:
The archangel Avacyn was created by the Planeswalker Sorin Markov in order to act as a protector for the humans of Innistrad. After being corrupted by the magical influence of the Lithomancer Nahiri, Avacyn began to view humanity as impure and sought to cleanse them as such. Sorin returned to Innistrad and undid the spell that had created Avacyn, destroying her for good. Now the High Priestess of the Black Vale in the Entity's Realm, Avacyn seeks to create a series of new Trials to not only curb her boredom but perhaps something more…

The Cathedral of the Entity

The Void

The first of them was a human, emaciated and hairless. His face was obscured by a gas mask. He never walked, always choosing to hover about. As he flew toward her, Avacyn could see her priests recoil in his mere presence, grabbing hold of their heads as his telepathy probed into the minds of all of those near him.
"Let's get started then, shall we?" The man in the gas mask said.
"First you must partake in a ritual to receive the Boons of the Entity." Avacyn told him. The glow around the Auris faded away and it settled back onto her palm. She reattached it to her belt.
"Boons?" Asked the burning man.
"Indeed. The Dark Mother is not as cruel a host as one might believe. She will provide you with additional strength in your Trials." Avacyn stared momentarily at the vampire who glowered in response.
Avacyn turned to the altar, waving to what hung above it. Four wreaths, each of them assigned to the virtues of the Entity's Killers, were strung there by a length of rope. Each of them provided a different Boon to those who offered them in reverence to the Dark Mother.
Avacyn turned back to the altar, holding out her hand to the Wreaths. The second one in line came free and floated to her palm.
This was the Raven Wreath, crafted out of blackened branches and bits of coal. It represented Deviousness. A Killer must utilize their gifts within a Trial in order to cultivate fear into Survivors. Thin strands of oily, black vapor drifted off of it. This vapor hung around the altar in a dark haze. Avacyn held it out to the man in the gas mask.
"Psycho Mantis, the Third Child. I bestow upon you the Boon of Darkness in the Dark Mother's name. Do you accept it?"
"I do." He approached the High Priestess, lifting up his mask just enough to expose a crooked nose. He inhaled the vapor and pulled his mask back down again. An image of billowing fog manifested itself on his forehead, glowing dark gray.
"Hear me, Dark Mother!" Avacyn cried once more. "The Psychic has joined the Trials!" The Cathedral shook again, more intensely this time.

Midwich Elementary School

Silent Hill

I just received a job offer today, which I accepted. They need me to relocate to BLR and be there by Monday. I don't wanna pay high deposits so looking for reasonable PGs near or in Indiranagar. Any leads or guidance would be appreciated folks.
I'm from Nagpur btw, and role is of a Product Designer :D

I feel like such a boring person in conversation. At a young age I experienced being put down for my looks and people finding me weird. In high-school I was a loaner. It has left me with poor social skills as a fully grown adult in their 30s. I feel like everyone else has mastered the art of conversation whilst I stick to safe or dull topics like "it's some weather out there eh". The thing is, I don't even care myself so I've no clue why I ask that. I also don't seem to understand what is being said to me in conversation as I can take things very literal and end up killing the conversation because of it. My self esteem is taking a hit at my current job as it is very cliquey and I know yet again I am not popular and it's something I've always wanted to be since about 7 years old. But it's like people don't want to come up and talk to me. It makes me feel like I must be boring. When I do speak I try to be really nice but I have a feeling of falseness when I do that. I do want to be nice, but I feel like I come across like Tom Cruise whenever he gets interviewed(no offence) . I feel very insecure and don't believe I can be found funny or interesting to others except my mum and my partner. I know this low self esteem is affecting me manifesting another job. I feel extremely scared to put myself out there anymore. I feel I am always a loser to people. What doesn't help is my sibling being very social and liked and having the gift of socialising. But they are kind to me thank god.
Any advice?

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.
​

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take: A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take: A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page: “XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take: This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest / Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take: Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take: Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take: Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take: A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take: One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page: “The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take: Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

My job (company based in Portland) has asked me to relocate to Portland. I think I'm excited but also very lost. My entire knowledge of Portland is limited to watching Portlandia back in the day. I have lived in NYC for 15 years, my entire adult life.
I will be in Portland for a week in July and I need to find the area that I will move to in that short window. Can people point me to the neighborhoods I should spend the most time in during that week.

• $700k-$850k budget
• Home not an apartment
• Big outdoor space (As a New Yorker, big outdoor space for me just means bigger than a like 10x10 concrete slab haha). Doesn’t have to be a massive. Just big enough to unleash my kid and let him run around.
• Not a daily driver neighborhood. This is a big one after living in Brooklyn for 15 years. I want to live in a neighborhood where I can park my car for a week or more and not need it. Walk to grocery stores, walk my kid to school, walk to a park, restaurants, etc.
• An area with a lot of energy. Fun, creative, with a real sense of community. I would like to buy a home but I don’t want to feel isolated in the suburbs.
• I'm not sure if the "weird Portland" culture is a media construct, but if it isn't, I'm into it. Maker communities, hyper-niche artisinal shops, weird meetups/events. This is something that Brooklyn lost around 2015 because those niche communities and businesses couldn't service the commercial rent in NYC.

In general how walkable/bikable Is Portland? To other ex NYers, what will I love and what will I hate about it?

Hey everyone, i’ve recently discovered my most recent past life and i decided to share, here are the details.
-Was born in the United Kingdom, more specifically around Yorkshire, England around the start of the Second World War, raised around WorcesteGloucester.
-My name was Charles, or “Charlie” for short.
-Father was a veteran of WW2 in Europe, Mother was a stay-at-home mom. I had one younger sister.
-Earliest memory was of the Sheffield Blitz, and how my mother was trying to rush toddler me to safety.
-Was very quiet and sensitive as a person, and developed a passion for painting, more specifically painting greenery around the time i became a teenager in the 1950s, trying to turn the passion into a career.
-When i came of age around the 1960s, my passion for art flourished as i was an avid fan and supporter of the counterculture movement, and occasionally used various drugs as an influence on my painting for a brief period around the late 1960s-early 1970s.
-My art never became successful, and i became near broke, even sleeping on park benches for a brief period with just me and a suitcase in the 1970s.
-I was lonely, and had trouble with relationships, eventually dying alone.
-Because of my drug use and lack of money, my health began to decline, and I had no way of supporting myself.
-I eventually died around the late 1970s around the age of 40, with my art never blowing up, due to health issues relating to my drug use.
-The last song I ever heard was “All My Loving by The Beatles” which was ironic as I was an avid Beatles fan and loved Paul McCartney specifically.
There you all go.

I always believed that these pre-owned car dealers indulged in malpractices, but recently my belief has got even stronger.
So, my father purchased an XUV 5OO in 2013. We had ownership of it for almost 10 years, when due to an unfortunate accident in January this year, the car was declared a total loss by the insurance company.
The vehicle was purchased by someone from the insurance company in an auction. My father has been in touch with the guy, and has been following the repair work that has been done on the car. A few days back, I got to know that the vehicle has been repaired and is up for sale.
I quickly ran a search on OLX and found the advert for the vehicle, posted by a dealer. The accident has obviously not been disclosed, and I'm quite sure the dealer would not disclose the same to anyone who visits and shows interest in purchasing the vehicle.
Now for the most surprising part...the vehicle had run around 1.4 lac KMs, and the accident happened when the odometer was somewhere near the 1.42 lac KM mark. The dealer has got the meter rolled back, and now it shows the vehicle to have run only 72k KMs.
The vehicle was so well maintained by my father, by the support of the Mahindra SVCs, that it is really difficult to tell by the engine and transmission and suspension that the vehicle has done 1.4 lac KMs. Even the interiors were kept supremely clean by us.
I pity the unsuspecting person who goes and buys the car thinking it to be driven for 72k KMs.
Moral of the story is, never ever go to these dealers. If you are confident about your ability to inspect a vehicle thoroughly, buy directly from owners, and if you're not, buy new...it's as simple as that, according to me.